This project aspires to transform how college students learn robotics by offering a motion planning curriculum that enhances deep learning and is supported by an integrated software environment.
The intellectual merit of this proposal lies in (a) developing an extensible software tool for teaching motion planning to college students, (b) promoting a robotics curriculum while examining its effectiveness for diverse learners at three institutions, and (c) engaging a broader spectrum of faculty and students in the emerging user community in developing motion planning technology and user practices. This work leads to a new way of teaching robotics courses by building on prior knowledge of calculus and programming, and providing hands-on experiences with state-of-the-art planners. Students work on challenging problems, and develop deeper knowledge by reflecting on and formally evaluating their results. This project offers students hands-on experience with state-of-the-art planners, teaches them how to compare them, modify them, and build challenging applications. The intention is to scaffold learning by freeing students from tedious details and heavy programming and help them through a hands-on problem-based learning approach to develop critical thinking within robotics and outside robotics.
The broader impact of this proposal is implemented through a number of coordinated activities. Documentation and assignments that have been tested in the robotics classes are shared through the Rice Connexions Project and the National Science Digital Library so that they can be used by other robotics instructors. The efforts to develop a collaborative user community also helps in this direction, providing support to the instructors who choose to use the material in their courses and encouraging feedback and discussion of teaching practices among users through online communication technology. Students who participate in robotics clubs at universities and high-schools are asked to review and give feedback on the materials and the software environment. In the long run the software environment developed with this proposal can be used with younger students to motivate them to pursue careers in computer science and engineering fields.
